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A team from Kumogakure is sent to head off a possible drug smuggler before they make it to the Land of Lightning while Sunagakure has them followed. The group takes care of the undesireables quite quickly.

"Drugs in a Box"

Somewhere between Land of Wind and Land of Lightning

Sure, the Yakuza are and have frequently been an issue, but they're not the only problem in the world. In fact, there's a particular drug cartel that has an ongoing agreement with that particular gang. Word had made it to the officials of Kumogakure and Sunagakure that a delivery was making its way from the desert region toward the mountains and each had sent their own pair to help… take care of the issue.
Hiei and Rise were sent to head off the wagon — which, in truth, appears to be a regular merchant's carriage except that it's guarded by five burly looking men. Tsuchi and Sei, who was signed on because Sunagakure was a bit busy with some other matters, were sent to follow them and meet up with the Kumogakure shinobi.

The Yakuza. Truthfully, Hiei hasn't tangled with those guys since he was a young genin. But when he was assigned to this mission, he didn't expect Rise and Ai to be assigned with him. He didn't know much about Ai, but anytime that he had to work with the headcase known as Rise, he was a bit worried. Being that they were also working with some nin from other villages, Hiei figured that their performance could potentially foster some good will among them. He had lost a lot to the last shinobi war. And frankly, he was sick of the drama and old prejudices. As they are sent to head off the wagon, Hiei directs his horse Snake Eyes, to move ahead of the convoy. There were only five guys, but he figured waiting for everyone else was the best play.

She knew she had to been the last one on anyone's mind for the mission; especially Hiei's mind. But, circumstances and what not being what they are, the duo are stuck with one another. At the very least Rise tried to play the role of a model solider. No back talking. No running off on her own. No /mildly/ dangerous pranks enroute to the meet up point. She just mutely follows along with the occasional stumble here and there. Well, not really occasional per say, but it was nothing to worry about! That is to say, according to Rise if anyone asked. This being immediatly followed by her putting on a greater show of non-chalance, even though doing so meant jolting her injuries even more so.
In any case, she somehow managed to work through the pain and keep up with Hiei's horse. Once they're in position, Rise did her best to look intimidating from a distance… but standing next to a darn near seven foot giant on a war horse probably did little to actual help her image. Frankly, she would be lucky to even be noticed at all…

Yep, basically a pony next to a magestic war horse. Ai somehow managed to stay caught up as well, panting heavily as she remained behind Rise, catching her breath as she halted. "Ugh…" Ai groaned as she shrugged off her fatigue and tried to put on a pretty face, after all such a mission was incredibly important to her. Not really for any other reason than to make herself look good for once. " Oh my, that's a lot of guards… I wonder what is being transported," Ai states aloud, taking notice of the burly guards and even more shinobi? SHe shrugs her shoulders and takes a position next to Rise, simply offering her a playful smirk before looking ahead towards Hiei, a giant of a man. "I suppose we will just follow orders and be fine…"

For her part, Tsuchi hardly seems bothered at all to be working with Kiri-nin, she does it all the time. She is more than happy to have new people with her as she moves quickly through the desert. Quickly being the true key. The woman is very fast and she smiles back at the others with her, chuckling before looking forward, "Remember, we'll be meeting up with people from Kumogakure! I know you aren't from Suna but this is like, for the Suna-Kiri alliance that we gotta look AWESOME!" She declares and thrusts a fist into the air as they run.
As they approach though, she starts to calm some, noticing the tracks deepening, seeing that they are moving into the more mountainous regions. She finally slows down some and starts to move more carefully before hmming and nodding back, "You two spider types, either of you have spiders you can send ahead of us?" She hmms and starts to look around for the people they are meeting with and the wagon as well.

Taree would get her sun screen and sun hat ready as yet another mission in the desert of Sunagakure came up. Spending time on a boat on the ocean water was quickly become one of her favorite past times. So the boat ride over for Taree at least was enjoyable and uneventfull. The desert looked the same as she left it the last time she was here. It was burning hot, sun a deadly bright in the sky, and not a single cloud in the sky. A normal day in the desert. From the boat the Okumo Taree and Okumo Sei would each grab a set of horses and meet up with Tsuchi.
The trip through the desert to the meeting point with the other group of ninja went quickly. Swapping horses every few hours to keep the fresh, the miles went by quickly. Taree had to admit the exuberance of Tsuchi was a little contageous. The mountain regeon starting to rise before them. "Not while moving this quickly but since we are slowing down I do not see why not. Sei's spiders are probally already ahead of us to be honet. When we actually get to the rendezvous point we can send out lots of scouts."

And so the Kumo nin stood before the wagon, causing it to come to a stop. The driver, which was actually not one of the guards and in fact an old man, it would seem, calls out, "Is there a problem here, m'boy?" Then he tips his hat to the girls as two of the guard step up toward the front. The horses pulling the cart fidget slightly. The team from Sunagakure isn't noticed, though, since they have stayed back a little, even though the other three guards turn to look around carefully.

Hiei says towards Ai, "Just be calm and mindful of your surroundings and you'll be fine." The best part about riding a horse, is that you're not already fatigued when you get to your destination and it serves as a great pack animal when having to cart enemies back for holding. When the wagon approaches, Hiei dismounts Snake Eyes. The warhorse immediately moves off to the side and away from his rider, as it was trained to do when Hiei pats him on the neck just before getting off him. He walks towards the wagon. "We've recieved reports that illegal goods are being shipped in this area. As a precaution, we'd like permission to inspect your cargo. Should nothing be found, we will allow you to go on your way." A tingle in the back of his head tells him that the Suna and Kiri shinobi have arrived..especially if they're dispatching spiders.

Rise nose twitched before she turned to regard Ai. Somehow she forgot there was a third person following them this whole time. She's quick to turn her gaze away as the news settles in, but not before catching the playful smirk from Ai. She blushes, thought thankfully didn't have to worry about it being seen thanks to the mask covering the lower portion of her face. 'What was—' But the thought goes unfinished from her Ai speaking up. She starts to open her mouth to speak, hesitates, and ultimately ends up closing it from the driver speaking up.
Rise balatantly ignores the kind gestures. Instead, her gaze drifts over the burly men guarding the wagon before locking on to the horses. The beasts seemed a little skittish. She takes a subconscious step back, hoping to place her usual 'bad with animals' aura out of reach from the creature.

For a moment Ai peered between the oldman and Hiei, her smile just about loomed into blatant laughter as he held it in with a distracting groan. "Boy….ha ha. Yes a very tall and strong boy," Ai spoke, mostly under her breath as she then nods to Hiei. "Right, surroundings I think I got this," Carefully she keeps her eyes peeled, well not really. She peered around for anything unusual though all she could find was the usual scenary. Instead she put eyes to the cargo, making sure no one pulled a fast one and attempt to cart away any illegal goods. Every now and then she takes a glance at Rise, wondering what other senior shinobi might approach a situation like this.

Moving more carefully as they approach the area where the wagons should be, Tsuchi is actually pretty good at moving quietly. She slips along quickly but quietly as she nods to the pair with her. As they come into sight of the wagon, Tsuchi moves back a little to move to Sei and Taree. She looks back and then states, "It appears that the Kumo-nin have already met up with the wagon. If either of you can get spiders into the wagon quietly, do so, I wanna know if they have something bad in there, whether they let us or not." She nods, "For now, we don't move in. Lets try to keep the element of surprise." Her hushed voice attempted to be prevented from carrying before she moves back to a good spot to get a vantage on the wagon without giving away her position.

Taree would be thank for for her small size, at least for this once. Scurrying forward quietly as possible looking for her favorite mode of attack. And as luck would have it, there strapped to the wagon were barrels of water. Keeping a eye on all the shinobi present she would wait to make her move. A smile on her lips as this would get to be fun.

The old man genuinely looks surprised. "Illegal goods, you say? Huh…" He glances back and just nods at the guards. "Sure, m'boy, go ahead," he tells him and shifts to dismount from the driver's seat. With a light groan, his feet touch the ground and he meanders toward the back to show good will. Ai finds nothing in her general search around the area. Hiei would be able to sense something within the cart, especially once those spiders attempt to make their way into it. What the spiders find is not drugs, but a variety of regular old merchandise, among which is a metal-covered box… and a none-too-pleased looking woman.
"I'm sorry to be a bother to you, having to check my wagon and everything," the man says to the Yotsuki. The moment Hiei would move to open the flap to look into the back of the cart, he'd have to move quickly or be speared by a metal spike coming from beneath his feet. "Nosey shinobi," the woman mutters as she shifts to stand, sandy brown hair and muddy brown eyes settling on the Jounin. Both Rise and Ai would find themselves faced with two of the guards. The old man, however, quite easily hops back into the driver's seat of the wagon — not so frail as he seemed. "Sorry, m'boy! Shouldn't have bothered with us!"

RPCOMBAT: Hiei defends against with a ACROBATIC-DODGE…53

Hiei's body reacts long before his brain catches up to it. When he caught the movement between his feet, he performs a backflip to take him out of range of the spike. Landing in a crouch with one hand on the ground, he narrows his eyes at the woman. "And I suppose surrendering isn't an option for you." It wasn't a question..more of a statement. Lightning sparks along Hiei's body as he prepares his mind and body for combat." He stands up straight and dusts himself off. "Take them." He says simply, speaking to all of the shinobi present. Then he waits to see who his opponent might be.

Rise pulled her lips in and bit her tongue to keep from laughing herself, but still winds up trembling from the effort. She snaps to attention quickly once the conversation seems to progress and Hiei moves on to do the actual checking. "So far, so good.." She murmurs underbreath as she crossed her arms beneath her breast, and tried to keep of track of every movement in the area. Then, things go from calm and boring, to tense and blood boiling in seconds. The moment the guards made a move towards her and Ai, Rise already has a hand at her combat knife. She ached to draw it and ba — "Hai!" She calls out, shaking her head clear of one line of thought before sizing up her opponent briefly. Grudgingly, fingers release the hilt to form a single hand seal meant to envelop all roughly within her sight (The bodyguards + the old man) in an illusion of fear. Fear meant to drive them to their knees at the very feeling of her presence.

"T..t..take them?" Ai questions curiously upon Hiei's orders, noting the sudden attack from the wagon and the guards starting to surround her and Rise. There was some stumbling and lag on Ai's part, while Rise jumped into the fray doing some sort of odd jutsu. Nothing that she could see anyways. "Do we have some rope… Or something?" Ai asks curiously, using this moment to focus a bit of chakra within her veins. " We can just wrap them up and start the long trip home. Just give up guys! We don't want to hurt you! Well I don't…"

Watching the attack happen, Tsuchi grins, "And we're done hiding." She chuckles and immediately leaps up from her spot uphill from the wagon. With 2 and the old man already being targetted from the front, she goes after two more. Even as she nears to the first guard, she makes a couple of quick handseals and crackles of light will flare up all around her and she might just appear to be gone…that is till she points a finger from behind at a far guard and sends out a shock toward one guard before she sends her right hand to aim at the chest of another guard which sends electricity into him, attempting to damage him internally, "I don't know…I kinda feel like hurting them."

Collapsing the sand hole under that wheel to drop it so the wagon wasn't going to go anywhere quickly, Sei would attack. While Tsuchi handled one of the guards, Sei went after others, suddenly spiders. A lot of them, would come swarming out of the ground, the sand errupting with his brood as they'd launch at the other two guards in the back, seeking to take them down and coccoon them quickly for rapid removal of potential threats.

Taree would rush forward and climb up the side of the wagon. Grumbling and mental noting about every single person having super fast speed moves. Reaching over and knocking off the lid of the water barrel on the way up she would finally manage to get to top of the wagon. Preparing herself mentally to deal with whatever the old man would do next.

There was no reason for the woman to answer. He knew it. She knew it. Everyone knew it. She steps out of the cart and looks around briefly as the two guards near the Kumo nin fall to their knees and the old man grasps his head. Rolling her eyes, she returns her attention to Hiei. The other three guards are… not doing their job very well. The Suna team takes them by surprise, their attention turning toward the noise and light, making it easy for Tsuchi to slip behind them. Zap, slap, grunts. Then the spiders. One of the guards screeches like a little girl at the sight of them, only to be quickly wrapped up in a cocoon of spider webbing. The old man, already suffering, is then wrapped too, making the woman sneer before she makes seals and creates a metal whip which extends from her hand, two swift swipes aimed at Hiei. The two guards that Tsuchi hit look around for what hit them, one of them spying Taree atop the cart and moving closer. He pulls a small dagger from a holder at his waist and throws it at her while his partner looks around.

RPCOMBAT: Hiei defends against with a WEAPON-BLOCK-II…44
RPCOMBAT: Hiei defends against with a DODGE…47

Hiei takes a moment to see how the rest of the team was faring before turning towards the woman. His face turns into a mask of calm. His blue eyes narrow when she performs a handseal. So she's had shinobi training. That's good. He wouldn't feel so bad for what he was about to do. When metal whips come out of her hands, he raises a brow and reaches back for one of the chakra swords on his back. He only barely manages to block the whip with his sword and then turns his body to the side rapidly to dodge her second attack. No words are spoken as Hiei goes to work. He tosses his sword towards the woman before sliding a foot forwards and striking towards her torso with a lightning infused palm strike. His body warps slightly as he moves rapidly so that he's standing behind her. He catches his sword behind his back before twirling around and striking out rapidly towards her with the blade.

Hiei wouldn't be the only one to take a moment to analyze the situation. Albiet, its a little diffult to be /absolutely/ certain her attack landed. The old man and guards could be faking after all, right? Seeing the former get wrapped up in some type of webbing solves one concern of hers, but the other two guards would recover soon. "It'd be less paperwork later.." Rise admits as she made her way over to one of the prone guards, blinding herself of the action taking place elsewhere during the approach. She only takes moment more to consider her next action before digging out a bound stretch of ninja wire meant to be tossed along to Ai, assuming she hasn't found something else appropriate. With that out of the way, Rise takes the one before her by both sides of his head, then applies pressure until she felt his skull cave in.
She's more than liberal with the amount of force applied…

"Ah, thanks!" Ai exclaims to Rise as she takes reaches out and take stye wire in hand, after grasping it tightly she makes way for one of the body guards still stunned by this invisible genjutsu, so she uses this as a time to go ahead and begin tying one of them, tight and painful wraps around their entire body to impede movement. " I will just get this one tied up…nice and tightly," Ai grimaces, peeling away at the wire to make a perfect knot, assuming no one attempted to stop her.

The guard that is left looking at her, Tsuchi smiles and nods to him, "Hey there." She moves forward quickly, and immediately charges lightning down into her fists before she ducks down and then sends both fists back out, one aimed for his chest and the other his gut, unleashing the charges into the man, "Lets just pass out now so the man and the woman over there can have a nice ltitle fight, eh?"

Sei kept back, watching as the fight would unfold, his brood continue it's cocooning of any that would get knocked down. They would have plenty of captives once Sei was through as he didn't figure it was necessary to kill them. Idly, Rise was watched as she'd crush a skull, then the fight between the others would get watched, his brood continuing it's work to maintain that scuffle to just that small area. It should be over quickly, afterall.

RPCOMBAT: Taree defends against with a WATER-FORTRESS-I…50

Taree was ready atop the wagon to unleash her brand of ninjutsu down on someone. And then in what seemed like slow motion watch the guard take the small dagger in hand and start to throw it at her. Drawing on her chakra control of water as fast as she could Taree would pull the water from the wagon's barrel. Crossing her arms trying to shield herself from the dagger the water forming a sphere around her. A solid bubble of protection the knife bouncing off of it. Watching the world continue to fight around her Taree would stay in her bubble for a moment. Her spiders crawling out of her hair swimming out into the water.

The woman was focused on the Jounin at this point. Useless guards, dumb partner… He was, as far as she could discern, the biggest threat and certainly so given he was combating her directly. She twisted to the side, using one of the whips to harden it and push herself. When he came at her with the sword after catching it, she attempted to use the metal to deflect his blade away. She failed, though, his strikes slicing her up a good deal. Wincing, she hissed through her teeth and again attempted to lash out with the whip. This time, though, she followed up with a jag, attempting to skewer him.
Ai maanages to tie the guard in a way that even when the crippling fear from Rise's Genjutsu faded away, he was unable to get out of the binds. Said Genjutsu-user is able to crush the head of the man as he's lost in the technique, dropping to the side once she's done. The guard facing down Tsuchi just shifts out of the way of both strikes, glaring. He then reaches out to grab her by the arm, meanwhile aiming a punch toward her face. The other guard watches the water form around Taree and growls underbreath before he attempts to climb up there and get her down forcefully since the water is still around her and throwing another blade isn't going to do him much good.

RPCOMBAT: Hiei defends against with a BREVITY…46
RPCOMBAT: Hiei defends against with a DODGE…32

Hiei leaves an afterimage for the woman when she lashed out at him with the whip. However when she stabs at him, he attempts to move, but isn't fast enough. She manages to stab him in the side with her blade. The Kumo Jounin frowns deeply from the pain. All injuries would be dealt with afterwards. He briefly considers using nintaijutsu to deal with this woman, but in the end he feels that would be overkill. Instead, he steps to the side and attempts to deliver an uppercut towards her chin. If it's successful, in addition to the strike an explosion of lightning chakra would catapult her upwards.

COMBAT: Hiei attacks target 1 with STORM-WARNING with a roll of: 61

Unecessary or not, Rise felt definitively better after killing a man. The heat of the sun and the burden of her wounds felt lighter. It mader her even begin to wonder if… But that was a route she couldn't focus on at the moment. Rise wipes the blood and gore off on the man's clothes, exposing herself to attack in the process. Not that she genuinely had to worry about anything like that with how effective and focused the rest of the team was by comparison. She rises again, sees Taree's next in trouble, and only gives Ai some curt warning about making sure the horses don't panic before taking off to assist the girl. A powerful flying drop kick is her opening, followed by one of her few kunai being launched after or lash out to force the guard away.

"Did you…have to kill him? We could have tied him up!" Ai whined to Rise before she simply sprinted off to help the other shinobi. Ai did her checking on the horses, careful to make sure they didn't run off while the battle indued. For now she just evaluated the situation, being careful while observing if anyone needed help So far, it seemed like everyone was in good hands.

RPCOMBAT: Tsuchi defends against with a LESSER-LIGHTNING-BLOCK…43

While she is being grabbed, Tsuchi simply raises an arm sparkling with lightning to block the incoming attack before she unleashes a punch right toward the guard's chest with a lightning powered punch that seeks to burn him internally. At the same time, her other hand makes a couple of seals before she sends lightnign again into both her hands and squints, "You're annoying. Burn and fry." And she unleashes both shocks toward him.

Watching, Sei would note that Tsuchi and Taree both seemed to be dealing with issues. The first two down, his brood would assault the man just after Rise would kick at him, the tackle seeking to pin him down in the spiders, coccooning him as well. Meanwhile, the spiders watched Tsuchi and as soon as the lightning stopped on that man, the spiders would leap to him, the rapid movement of those spiders belying the chakra infused into them as they would seek to bind him as well. Sei still kept in reserve, no need to tip his abilities when it seems they're handled rather well.

Taree watch the guard climbing to get her. She was contimplating letting the water drop and use it on him when the poor guy got kicked. Stabbed with a dagger by rise. And finally Taree would see Sei's spider go for the poor man. In her book that guy was down, and if he was not after all that he deserved to get away. Looking quickly for a new target the only real one that was standing was the woman. And dropping this much water into that fight would be a bad idea. Letting the water go was easy, gentle guiding it back into the barrel was a little harder. Sighing wonderign herself just how many of her spiders still was in the water. "When will thugs and thieves learn just surrendor. It means far less broken bones"

The woman was /not/ expecting that, it would seem… She adjusted, just about try and move, when Hiei's knuckles connected and sent her flying. Her body convulsed a little at the electricity running through her… She was definitely out, and once she was, the metal layer around that box within the cart lost its stability and fell apart. That's where the drugs were.
Rise has the element of surprise and so the man is kicked and stabbed before the Okumo boy took care of the situation altogether. The other guard was focused on Tsuchi and the pain her strikes caused, leaving the spiders to swarm him without too much difficulty. Taree has a point, of course… but if they just gave up, they wouldn't be thugs. Of course, these ones in particular aren't thieves, per se. Just criminals.